Buy Schumi Podium Cap 2006

Friday, September 14, 2007

Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher was on Wednesday awarded one of Spain's highest honours, the Prince of Asturias prize for sports, organizers said. Schumacher, 38, was chosen because his record 'had turned him into a sports legend and the racer who has won the most trophies in the history of the sport' as well as for his charity work, said the jury that awards the sports prize.

Schumacher, 38, was chosen because his record 'had turned him into a sports legend and the racer who has won the most trophies in the history of the sport' as well as for his charity work, said the jury that awards the sports prize. "His generosity with the poor has transcended the borders of his country, a fact which was taken into account by the jury," it added in a statement. Schumacher gave 1.15 million euros (1.56 million US dollars) to UN cultural organization UNESCO in 2005 and 10 million US dollars one year later to help the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in southeast Asia, the jury noted.

After winning two championships with Benetton, Schumacher moved to Ferrari in 1996 where he won five consecutive drivers' titles with them. He retired last year but occasionally still works for his former Ferrari team. Schumacher beat 17 other candidates for the prize, including Iraq's national football team, which won the Asian Cup for the first time in history earlier this year, and a joint candidacy by tennis aces Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Former winners of the award include seven-times Tour de France cycling champion Lance Armstrong of the United States and Moroccan middle distance runner Hicham El Guerrouj who holds the world record for the 1,500-metre race. It was awarded last year to Spain's national basketball team.

Spain's Crown Prince Felipe is the patron of the Asturias foundation which annually hands out eight awards - each worth 50,000 euros (68,000 US dollars) - in fields ranging from sports to science and literature.

Seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher will be participating ine the Karting World Championship in Mariembourg. The event, which appears on the CIK-FIA calendar, will take place from 20-23 September on the Fagnes circuit in Belgium.

It will be the famous German driver's first return to competition since his retirement from F1 following last year's season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix.

Last month, his former Ferrari team mate Felipe massa had announced that Schumacher would join him in the International Challenge of Go-Kart in Brazil, an annual event which will take place 24-25 November.

Michael recently became the co-owner of the KSM karting team with partners Peter Kaiser and Thomas Muchow.

"My love for kart races has never left me," Schumacher had declared at the time.

Michael Schumacher has admitted for the first time that the ascendancy of reigning world champion Fernando Alonso contributed to his decision to retire.At the height of his championship reign earlier this decade, the seven time world champion repeatedly declared that the right time to stop will be when a younger driver starts to regularly beat him.

38-year-old Schumacher told the Spanish language magazine Gentleman this week that he decided to call it a day at the end of 2006 principally because he detected his dedication to the sport beginning to slip.

He added: "And I always said that the day a younger driver went past me would tell me that the moment had arrived to leave."

Schumacher also revealed that he sympathises with his 2006 championship rival, as Alonso now endures a somewhat negative relationship with the media.

"I have been astonished by the commentaries of certain journalists," the German said.

"This person is the youngest double world champion of all time, but they write that he is arrogant and inaccessible ..."